Google and Clean Power Finance Team up to Create $75 Million Fund for Residential Solar Projects

Clean Power Finance, a provider of integrated services and financing solutions for the solar industry, and Google announced the creation of a new $75 million fund to finance residential solar projects. This initial investment in Clean Power Finance’s white label financing solution represents the second fund available to its network of qualified installers who brand and market it to homeowners.

“Clean Power Finance has built an innovative platform that connects solar manufacturers, investors like us and solar installers who offer our financing directly to homeowners. It’s a powerful combination that will reduce costs and facilitate the expansion of distributed solar in the U.S.,” said Rick Needham, director of green business operations at Google.

According to Clean Power Finance and Google, the fund will enable up to 3,000 homeowners to invest in solar technology in a number of key markets.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) reported that power purchase agreements (PPAs) and leases accounted for more than a third of all residential solar sales in California and Colorado in the first quarter of 2011 and credited PPAs and leases as the driving force behind solar adoption among homeowners because they ease the process and lower the cost of solar-energy systems. As such, the SEIA reported that residential solar financing is among the fastest growing categories in the solar industry.

The Clean Power Finance model is similar to an energy service company, but it plays the part of a middleman, connecting sources of financing with installers. Installers work with homeowners to secure the funds to place solar-power systems on their homes. After the installation, homeowners pay a monthly rate to the financer, which continues to own the solar-power system, and the rate the homeowners pay is lower than the typical electric utility rate.

Google stated it has now invested more than $850 million in the renewable-energy sector.